Google's Andean Region Director Ana Lucia Lenis encouraged Peruvian women to forget barriers, myths and to fall in love with technology, which plays an important role in the equalization of opportunities.
Remarks were made in Lima, where Google announced a US$750,000 donation to Laboratoria, a social enterprise that teaches 18-35-year-old Latin American women technical and soft skills needed to start working as web developers.
"With this alliance, we want Peruvian women to look for Laboratoria and join the courses. This will allow them to start their own business ventures and become part of technology firms," said Lenis, who claims technology changed her life.
Women hold 6% of jobs
According to Gianfranco Polastri, General Manager at Google Peru, women make up 6% of Peru's technology sector workforce.
This significant contribution to Laboratoria will keep up on helping more women enter the technology sector, resulting in more web developer graduates.
This way, Google became Laboratoria's second largest donor after the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
"The web programming course's goal is to train 2,000 students in four countries —including Peru— in the three years to come. This is a big responsibility we must fulfill," commented Ana Martinez, from Laboratoria.
Paradoxically, the most in-demand job titles in a few years will be in this sector. According to telecom firm Cisco Systems, Latin America will require half a million programmers for 2019, a great opportunity for women interested in this sector.
Laboratoria identifies young women with high potential, despite their economic limitations, and give them the opportunity to become web developers. The training runs for five months and the payment shall commence once beneficiaries start working.
Yesenia Rodriguez, 26, is a Laboratoria graduate and currently works at IBM in La Molina branch. She is the only female programmer in her area.
It took her only five months to learn the codes and show women are able to work in this area mainly dominated by men.
"It is quite important that the digital sector be attractive to girls; I think women, like me, have been categorized in the segment of desktop related professions, since I studied business management," Rodriguez expressed.
"We have to change the chip, and hard work can make it happen," she added.
(END) MFA/RRC/RMB/MVB
Published: 3/8/2017